Confident Federal Retirement

As a business owner, saving for retirement can be a daunting task. Unlike employees of larger companies who often have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans, business owners are responsible for creating and funding their own retirement accounts. For the solo business owner that's where the SEP IRA and Solo 401k come into play. In this podcast episode, we explore the pros and cons of each p...

Recessions are a natural part of the economy and come with a number of challenges that are out of our control. How can owners best position themselves and their business to thrive in this environment? It all comes down to preparation and setting yourself up for an advantage.  In this episode, I will share how to prepare yourself and your business to take advantage of a recession economy.  We cover...

Investing your life savings in the market can be a rollercoaster ride, and it's not uncommon to feel overwhelmed by the emotional ups and downs. Unfortunately, these emotions can lead to irrational decision-making and negatively impact your long-term investment strategy. In this episode, I will share the impact emotional investing can have on your returns, investing principles to follow so you don...

Less than 20% of businesses that go to market will sell. The majority of those that do, sell well below the owner's desired value. Why is this? Listen in as I discuss the top four most common business readiness issues and how to fix them. Addressing these four issues alone will set you apart from the remaining 80% of businesses that have no chance of selling.  In this episode I share:  The top mis...

Do you know how much money you need from the sale of your business to fund your lifestyle comfortably in retirement? How much is your business worth? Do you have to increase the value of your business to help fund your next chapter? Retirement planning for the entrepreneur is very different compared to the individual working a 9-5 as a W-2 employee. By setting up a plan, you can understand how muc...

How do you know if you are ready to transition out of your business? Planning for life after the sale and determining what you would do outside of the business is an essential part to having a successful transition. It can help you protect the value of your business by identifying what drivers are motivating you to sell and what future life visions will get you through the hardest part of the exit...

Do you have a plan for what would happen to your family, business and employees if you were to suddenly pass away? Estate planning is an essential part of the financial planning process. It can help you protect your assets, minimize your tax burden and make sure that your wishes are carried out well after your passing. By setting up a plan, you can make sure that your heirs receive the maximum ben...

Finding quality employees can be difficult. The people you hire to work for your business can support and help you to achieve the vision you have for your company or they can prevent you from reaching that vision. Unfortunately, too many businesses overlook the role of employee recruitment and retention when planning for their organization's long-term success. In this episode, Tom will share the b...

Unfortunately, you cannot keep your retirement funds in your account indefinitely. When you reach the age of 72, you generally have to start taking required withdrawals from your retirement plan account. This is an essential end-of-year financial planning topic because if this applies to you and you do not follow the rules of the IRS, you could be paying as much as a 50% penalty on the amount that...

Preparing yourself is the first step to successfully transitioning out of your business. Of course, it is essential to prepare your business for sale, but it is also crucial to make sure you're ready to enter this next phase of life. If you are a business owner and you're thinking about selling your business, planning for life after business can motivate you to turn your vision into reality. So, i...

Timing and careful preparation are essential when planning to exit your business. How you direct the transition and when you decide to do so will have a big impact on your employees, clients, and yourself. This will also affect the value you are able to extract from what you've spent so long building. So, when is the perfect time to transition out of your business? Tom will answer this question in...

There are many common exit strategies for business owners but ultimately the one you choose will depend on your financial, personal and business goals. If you sell externally, there are plenty of unknown variables that can come into play without the right planning. However, if you sell internally you run into a host of other issues. So, how do you know what is the right option for you and your bus...

Building a business is hard. Building a sustainable and successful business is even more difficult. So, what separates typical business owners from value-building, long-lasting business owners? In this episode, Tom will share his advice for ensuring your business is set up for the future by asking the right questions, putting the right processes in place and focusing on value rather than revenue....

Life happens and things can change in the blink of an eye. If something unexpected happens to you, your business could be negatively impacted if you do not prepare ahead of time. This is why it is essential to have a contingency plan in place in the event of an emergency or worst-case scenario. Death, divorce, distress, disagreement, or disability (known as the 5 Ds) are all major risks that are c...

Depending on how well you plan in advance, many people can retire from age 50 or even sooner. Maybe you have been maxing out your retirement contributions or maybe you've sold your business for a profit. More than likely, you will have a mix of various accounts to pull income from. The question is, which of these accounts should you pull income from to support your lifestyle in retirement while al...

If you rely on the value of your business to pay for your retirement, you may end up with a lot less money for your golden years than you initially thought. This could come down to your business not being as valuable as you thought, poor bookkeeping or many other things. This is why i t is important to find the right balance between your company assets and diversified investments outside of your b...

When looking at your finances, where are you currently sitting and where do you need to be in the future to accomplish your goals? Many business owners have so many things going on in their lives that they don't get a chance to properly plan for themselves or their families. Calculating your personal wealth gap is a way to identify how you're doing with your personal planning. So, how do we actual...

Without significant diversification in your portfolio, your employees, your suppliers, or clients, you set yourself up for concentration risk. Now, this can happen intentionally or unintentionally. Maybe you rely too heavily on your top performer's sales achievements, perhaps you have built your company to be dependent on you as the owner. Through this concentration and dependency, you decrease th...

How would you rate your ability to delegate? A business owner who masters delegation is essential to ensure everyone can take action whilst understanding exactly what it is they need to be doing. Through developing the skill of delegation, you will be less tied down to your business, you will have more freedom and your team will be a lot more clear on their responsibilities. In this episode, Tom w...

When it comes to getting ready to transition away from your business, it's important that your exit strategy is well thought out. However, many business owners delay exit planning to manage their busy schedules running the business. Unfortunately, this leads to issues when they do eventually exit their business. So, in this episode, Tom will be sharing the top 3 common exit planning mistakes that...

When it comes to implementing a business exit strategy, one of the most important things to do is to assemble a team to help you through the process. Some team members you will be working with before, during and after the process—and then some team members will come in strategically for one assignment only. So, who should you have on your team? And how do you decide who should fill these roles? Th...

Congratulations! You've received the letter of intent that somebody in interested in buying your business, the sale goes through, and the money drops into your account. But now what? In this episode, Tom shares how to figure out a distribution strategy that gives you your desired rate of return while also managing taxes appropriately.     ----- We help business owners: → Understand the complexity...

Where is the majority of the value of your company within your business? Surprisingly, 80% of your business value lies within four intangible capitals. Intangible capitals have nothing to do with your financial situation - so what does this mean for the value of your company? In this episode, Tom will be sharing what these four key areas are, why they're so important and what you can do moving for...

Coming up with an exact dollar amount for how much you need to retire can be challenging. There are many factors that need to go into this estimate and a lot of things to consider. Rather than trying to get to an exact number, in this episode, Tom will be sharing a framework that will allow you to think out of the box and have a clear idea of what you should be evaluating before your retirement.  ...

Every business owner wants a growing, profitable business with loyal, hard-working employees. You want to create a culture where everyone is thriving and able to provide their best work. However, even with these common goals in mind, many people forget one very important part of creating and running a prosperous business; their business exit strategy. So, in this episode, I will be sharing several...